Boston
(1992)A
statue of the Madonna which was carried through a religious procession
in Boston, USA, appeared to blink briefly on a videotaped recording
of the event. Since the procession, thousands of people have flocked
to the chapel and clubhouse of the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca
Society where the statue is kept. Many people consider the 'blinking
Madonna' a miracle, while others, including two video technicians
who examined the videotape, believe the camera's shifting autofocus
mechanism was responsible for the phenomenon. Two video experts from
Harvard, however, said the autofocus theory could not be proven conclusively
even after a careful analysis of the videotape.
(Source: Boston Herald)

The
Bronx (1992)Thousands
of visitors from all over the world have flocked to the shrine of
the Virgin Mary at St Lucy's Roman Catholic Church in The Bronx, New
York. Hundreds have been healed this year after drinking the shrine's
miracle water - remarkably coming not from the original spring but
off the New York City water mains. People preparing for major surgery
have found operations no longer necessary after drinking glasses of
the water - cured by their faith, their prayers and the symbolic water,
according to parish official Anthony DelGuadio. (Source: Examiner,
USA)
California (1991)Since
1991, a young Filipino man, Carmelo Cortez, has had numerous experiences
of the Madonna and is able to manifest detailed images of the Christ,
Mary, and others onto rose petals. Healings have also been associated
with these phenomena.

California (1995)On
the 13th of each month, hundreds of people flock to a remote spot
in the Mojave Desert in southern California to witness sightings of
the Virgin Mary. Maria Paula, a local Catholic woman, says she regularly
has visions of the Virgin Mary. Up to three-quarters of the crowd
who attend the desert gatherings each month, have reported seeing
the Virgin. The local Catholic bishop hasn' officially recognized
or approved Paula's activities. But the Rev. John Santillan, a priest
at a Los Angeles church, acts as Paula's spiritual adviser and attends
the monthly visions. "I don't completely accept it, but my tendency
is to say, 'Yes, something is happening.'"
( Source: Bakersfield Californian, USA; L.A.Times, February 16, 1997)

California
(1996)Hundreds
of people each night are visiting the Immaculate Conception Church
in San Francisco to see an image of the Virgin Mary which has appeared
on the church's gabled roof. The image appeared about the same time
as two neighbourhood teenagers were killed in a nearby park.

The image appears
after dark, and is visible throughout the night. People gather each
evening to pray and sing religious songs. Some say they have smelled
the scent of roses. There have also been reports of healings. "The
presence of her was quite overwhelming. It was quite a spiritual experience
... From my abdomen to my neck it was like this overwhelming spiritual
sense," said one visitor, Taren Sapienza.

Four local television
stations and both major newspapers in San Francisco reported on the
story. The Cable News Network (CNN) also produced a news story on
the image. The church's priest, Father Guglielmo "William" Lauriola,
told CNN: "We have a sign that is pulling our attention toward something
supernatural." The image has had a positive effect on the community
as well. "I've seen lots of young people come here and many people
who have not been to church for years," Father Lauriola told the San
Francisco Examiner.

The CNN story
included a segment on Benjamin Creme. "British lecturer Benjamin Creme,
who has written about religious phenomena, visited the chapel. He
believes the image and similar signs signal a Second Coming as the
new millennium approaches," said reporter Fred Wayne. "This is part
of the signs of an extraordinary event, which to my certain knowledge
is taking place in the world," said Creme. (Sources: San Francisco
Examiner; CNN, USA)

Florida
(1996)Thousands
of people are flocking to a modest Florida house to hear a woman deliver
messages from the Virgin Mary. Rosa Lopez says that she receives daily
messages from the Virgin who urges more prayer and devotion. Lopez
offers these messages to the public once a month.

In 1992, after
making a pilgrimage to a town in Georgia where visions of the Virgin
had been reported, Rosa first saw what she thought was a photograph
of the Virgin affixed to a tree. "What a beautiful picture," she thought
-- until she saw the figure bless the crowd with a wave of her hand.
After returning home, Rosa began seeing visions of both Jesus and
Mary in her own bedroom, and these visions eventually became a daily
part of her life.

Others have reported
witnessing the visions as well. Jasinto, a local resident, doubted
the visions until he himself saw the Virgin one evening. "She was
in the window," he says. "I passed my hands in front of the vision
and I still saw it."

Many who see nothing
unusual insist they feel something. "It's a presence," says Rosa's
daughter, Cari. "There's a calmness, a tranquillity, a peaceful feeling
when you're there." Pilgrims to the site have also claimed healings
from water flowing out of a fountain beneath a statue of Mary in Lopez'
front yard.

Catholic authorities
in the area have tried to discourage people from visiting the house.
One statement from the archdiocese stated: "Unless it's authorized
and approved, it can't become a subject of devotion and belief. It
could become a source of religious and spiritual confusion." (Source:
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, USA)

Florida
(1996)During
three weeks over Christmas 1996, 450,000 people went to view the wall
of a black glass building in south Florida where a two-storey-high
image of the Virgin Mary had appeared. The rainbow-coloured image
on the outside of the Seminole Finance building in Clearwater, Florida,
is about 50 feet wide and 35 feet tall, and stretches across nine
panes of glass.

Some witnesses
said the image began forming about the time of Thanksgiving, in late
November. A couple of weeks later, a customer of Seminole Finance
called a local television station to say she had seen an image of
the Virgin Mary on the building. The station showed pictures of the
image during their newscast, and soon large crowds began gathering.

"It's quite amazing.
It's very spiritual, very peaceful," said Patty Scharn, a receptionist
at the building. According to police spokesman Wayne Shelor: "People
are making shrines, bringing gifts, candles, flowers, statues. Some
have been overwhelmed and fainted. We have the infirm, the disabled
in wheelchairs, the blind. They're coming 500 at a time.... But it's
not a carnival atmosphere. There is a sense of awe and wonder."

Some visitors
said the image was caused by the sun reflecting off water left by
sprinklers. A spokesman for the local Catholic diocese said: "There's
no reason at this point to think that what's appearing there cannot
be explained by natural causes ... We're just telling people to exercise
caution. Use some healthy scepticism."

But many who have
come to view the image do not need to be convinced of its authenticity.
"It was like you're in an angel's arms," said one visitor. ( Sources:
Associated Press; Clearwater Times; St Petersburg Times, USA)

Kentucky
(1992)Reverend
Leroy Smith is the priest at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in
Cold Spring, Kentucky. Earlier this year, Reverend Smith received
information from a "visionary" in nearby Ohio that the Virgin Mary
would appear at his church on 31 August at midnight. Word quickly
spread, and the story received a great deal of local and national
media attention.

At the appointed
date and time, with thousands in attendance, both inside and outside
the church, Reverend Smith said: "Let's take a moment to welcome Our
Lady into our midst." Some of those inside saw lights in various forms
moving through the church, or flashing lights reflected in the church
windows. Others outside the church saw a vision of the Virgin Mary
in a tree and above the church's bell tower.

"...in most
of the messages - from Medjugorje and elsewhere around the world
- the message is: 'Time is short. Realize that there will be difficulties
and problems, and that this is not the end of the world - but perhaps
the end of an era'." (Reverend
Smith)

Kentucky
(1995)Thousands
of people are flocking to a small Kentucky farm to hear a 49-year-old
grandmother deliver messages from the Virgin Mary. According to US
tabloid The Sun : "The messages are basically the same -- to
pray, to follow the Golden Rule, and to prepare for a change in the
world coming soon."

The woman receiving
the messages is known by her first name, Sandy, and has lived in the
area most of her life. Sandy was not a particularly religious person
until 1992, when, she says, the Virgin Mary appeared to her. The Virgin
urged her to build a shrine where people could come to say the rosary
and pray for peace, and hear her weekly messages given through Sandy.
Some visitors say they have seen a cloud of light descend into the
statue of the Virgin, the centre of the outdoor shrine, just before
Sandy receives her message, and leave when the message is completed.
Children say they have had the silver crucifixes on their rosaries
turn to a golden colour. About 3,000 people now come to the shrine
on an average weekend, with up to 30,000 on special days. (Source:
The Sun, USA)

Louisiana
(1989)In
yet another manifestation of the Virgin Mary, between 8,000 and 10,000
people flocked to a clearing in rural Tickfaw, Louisiana, where they
had been told the Virgin would appear. As in other such instances,
some of the viewers claimed they saw strange lights emanating from
the sun; some said they saw Jesus, Mary and Joseph; and a few claimed
they had received messages from the Virgin.

According to the
New Orleans Times-Picayune, the crowd was drawn to the site because
word had spread that a local man, Alfredo Raimondo, had been asked
by the Virgin in February to sponsor a Mass in honor of St. Joseph.
Raimondo explained that the Virgin was especially pleased because
so many people from the area had visited Medjugorje, where apparitions
of the Virgin have appeared for years.

Among the faithful
at Tickfaw were two women and a boy who said they saw the Virgin.
One of the women said they had received a message they were asked
not to reveal, an experience which is common at such manifestations.

A priest from
New Orleans spent five hours at the site hearing confessions: "Some
people said it had been 10, 20, 30 years since they had been to confession.
Some people had tears running down their faces." The county sheriff's
deputy remarked that the event was the first time in 12 years of directing
traffic that nobody had complained to him, and noted that "This is
the nicest, most well-behaved group of people".

Ohio
(1991)Visions
of the Virgin Mary have been drawing crowds to a roadside shrine at
the Society of St Paul in Ellsworth, Ohio. A 17-year-old high school
boy began the vigils there two months ago after claiming he had talked
with Mary. Some in the community report seeing images of Mary in the
setting sun, while others say the sun spins or pulsates as it sets
over the shrine. (Source: Youngstown Vindicator)

Ohio (1992)In
a tiny church located in the industrial section of a small Ohio town,
a painting of the Virgin Mary is seen to weep. At St Jude Orthodox
Church in Barberton, Ohio, tears are reported to flow from the Virgin's
eyes on the two-by-three-foot painting. St Jude's pastor, Father Roman,
like many of the visitors to the church, believes the event in Barberton
is a miracle "a sign of compassion from God." He says of the painting:
"If it gives some blessing, we'd like people to come and see it. We
want to try to bring people back to church and God." ( Source: Knight
Ridder Newspapers )

Oregon
(1994)A
little mobile home in Boardman, Oregon, USA, is drawing hundreds of
people eager to see an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a landscape
painting purchased at a garage sale.

It all began on
a Thursday morning when Irma Mu-oz woke before dawn and couldn't get
back to sleep. She watched a little TV while her mother made a packed
lunch for her father, who was leaving for work. Irma's mother, Lourdes
Mu-oz, asked her for a cup of coffee. As she took the cup to her mother,
the painting above the bed caught her eye. She said she could clearly
see in it an image in the shape of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"I had an uncontrollable
desire to cry, so I cried," Irma Mu-oz told the Tri-City Herald
in Kennewick, Washington. "I said to my mother: 'There is the
virgin'." Her mother was sceptical, but when "she got up and saw it,
she believed me," said Irma.

Many Catholics
of Mexican descent are devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe, another name
for the Virgin Mary, and honour her Feast Day on 12 December. The
feast commemorates a day in 1531 when the Virgin Mary is believed
to have appeared to a poor Indian in what is now Mexico City.

For 23-year-old
Irma, the sight came as a complete surprise. "I wasn't a very religious
person, but I am now," she said. Irma called her sister, and word
quickly spread. A Spanish-language radio station in Walla Walla, Wash.,
picked up the story and sent a reporter to broadcast live from the
scene. By the Thursday evening, the family's small mobile home was
filled with roses and votive candles and people hoping to see the
image for themselves. Some prayed as they gazed -- others just stared
quietly -- at the image in a glossy area on the otherwise dull surface
of the painting. The image is about the size of a dinner plate. Unfortunately
the crowds and lighting made photographs impossible. (Source: The
News-Review, Roseburg, Oregon, USA)

Texas
(1993)An
image of the Virgin Mary has appeared on a car in Elsa, Texas. The
car is Dario Mendoza's 1981 maroon Chevrolet Camaro, and the Virgin's
image appeared on the rear fender on the driver's side. When Mendoza's
family and friends first noticed the image, they were so moved that
several of them slept outside that night so they could stay close
to the image.

The next morning,
Mendoza had an attack of sceptism, and washed his car. The image only
grew larger. Soon the local papers carried the story and people flocked
to see the image of "La Virgencita". They came to pray, bring flowers,
sing, and to leave small written prayers asking for the Virgin Mary's
help with their problems. The pilgrims continued to arrive each day.

When Mendoza,
who gets seasonal work picking cotton in Louisiana, needed to get
to work, he realized he could not take the car - which by now was
the centre of a small shrine. Instead, he hitchhiked to the fields.

The church is
refusing comment on the subject, just as it did when Mary's image
recently appeared on a cottonwood tree in front of a boarding house
in nearby Brownsville, Texas. The Mendoza family says they have no
idea why the Virgin chose Dario Mendoza's car for her miracle. (Source:
Wall Street Journal, USA)

Texas
(1997)Since 8 September
1997, thousands have come to see an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe
or Madonna that is visible on a glass door located in the leasing
office of The Nook Apartments on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio,
Texas.

A few months
later another image of the Madonna also appeared in a window in Floresville,
just 30 miles to the south of San Antonio.

Texas
(1998)A
statue of the Virgin Mary, which has stood for 10 years in the front
yard of a modest home in Corpus Christi, Texas, was recently noticed
by a passerby to be moving. The passerby alerted the owner of the
house, Raquel Fernandez, to the movement, and the two of them then
reportedly witnessed the statue turn its head both ways, open its
eyes and take mincing steps to the edge of its niche.
"I fell to my knees and started crying," said Fernandez. "The Holy
Spirit came over me from my head to my toes. It was beautiful." Since
then, thousands have flocked day and night to view the statue, pray,
and make offerings to the icon.
(Source: Houston Chronicle, USA)

Washington (1997)Thousands
of belivers flocked to an ordinary traffic sign here hoping to catch
a glimpse of an image of the Virgin Mary. Chico Rodriquez, a police
officer in this town about 30 miles southeast of Yakima, said he saw
Madonna images on a road sign east of the city limits. "It shows like
the figure of the Virgin Mary," Rodriquez said last Sunday. "It's
the full figure. You really can't make out the face ... more of a
profile. It's just all of the collars and stuff there."

The sighting was
first reported around 4 p.m. Saturday on the sign at the intersection
of state Route 241 and Yakima Valley Highway. Within hours, thousands
were arriving as the report spread by word of mouth among the predominately
Hispanic communities in the area.

Conyers
(1997)On
13 October 1997, approximately 30,000 people flocked to the farm of
Nancy Fowler, who claims she has been visited regularly by the Virgin
Mary since 1990. She told the crowds that the Madonna said She will
appear again next year for the last time. Initially, the Holy Mother
appeared to her on the 13th of every month, but since 1994 there have
only been messages once a year, on 13 October. That is also the day,
according to official Roman Catholic doctrine, on which the Madonna
last appeared, in Fatima, Portugal. Nancy Fowler also said that the
Virgin appeared to her in her home and that the apparition lasted
for eight minutes. (Source: de Volkskrant, the Netherlands)